...printed in this book. My neighbor dropped of a book for me to borrow about home made wine titled, How to Make the FINEST WINE at Home... in old glass or plastic jugs for as little as $.10 a gallon!. It's author is George Leonard Herter, and it's copyright is 1969.

Now I learned a lot about wine (which I know nearly nothing) by reading this book last night. I noticed that the book had a "spirit" section, and figured I would check out the bourbon section. Now, I am afraid I must unlearn evrything I picked up last night. Let me fill ya'll in:

Pg 167 - And I quote the first sentence about bourbon. "Bourbon whiskey gets most of it's color and some of its flavor and some of its noted hang-over qualities from being stored in white oak barrels."

It goes on to state that whiskey aged for over 8 years in unsafe to drink due to the amount of tannic acid which it absorbs from the wood.

WHAT???

This book also states that gin over three years old is unsafe as well. Even funnier though, is the Vodka section. According to the book, ALL vodka is the exact same thing. The producers just buy ethyl alcohol, cut it with water and bottle it. THis book says to never waste your money on expensive vodka, when the cheap stuff is exactly the same.

Don't want to be an alcoholic? Here is some great advice I picked up from this book:

"1. Never drink any alcoholic beverage with an alcohol content over 12%.

2. Always drink after you have eaten food, never on an empty stomach.

3. Drink very slowly. The more slowly the better."

Can't sleep? Suffer from anxiety? Here's a remedy for you!

"If you do not intend to become addicted to alcoholic beverages, beer and wine are still by far the safest and best tranquilizers. They are also the best remedy for insomnia."

There are so many other hilarious things in this book that I can't even begin to type them all. Oh well, I am going to go and try to get some sleep. Better have a pour of wine to tranquilize myself...

bobbyc

08-07-2006, 17:56

It's been a slow day, I'll do it. Most of those things are true in a theoritical sense. The one about Vodka was true until recently when Buffalo Trace became the only domestic maker of vodka to make their own Ethanol for Rain Vodka, everyone else gets theirs from Midwest Spirits and Solvents or somesuch.

TnSquire

08-07-2006, 19:02

All you guys with bourbon aged over 8 years can send it to me with a dollar per bottle disposal fee and I will make sure it is disposed of properly.

TimmyBoston

08-07-2006, 23:05

I'm pretty sure someone dinged Mr. Herter in the head with one of his $1.10 gallon jugs of the World's Finest Wine.

cowdery

08-08-2006, 10:02

As Bobby says, the only thing in there that has a modicum of truth is the statement about vodka. The gin statement is absurd, since gin isn't aged. A more accurate statement about color and flavor would be that bourbon whiskey gets all of it's color and most of its flavor from the barrel. As for hangovers, the sad truth is that most of the ill effects of alcohol consumption are caused by the alcohol itself, although some may be caused by fusel oils, the effect of which are actually diminished by aging in wood.

One of the things that got me interested in learning about and writing about whiskey was my discovery that most of the published information I found was wrong.